


That's what Teammates do

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [15]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Invasion of Privacy, M/M, Past Underage Sex, Polyamory, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 17:59:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13529601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: Tony doesn't like some of the whispers he hears and so he accompanies Steve, Natasha and Clint to SHIELD.  What follows teaches the team a lot about their resident pranksters.





	That's what Teammates do

**Author's Note:**

> I am starting the next bit of the storyline for this series with this story. I hope you like it.
> 
> There are notes at the end of the chapter that are less happy than usual. I do apologize for the down note.

Steve glanced back at the back of the quinjet in confusion.  He had been to visit SHIELD many times since he had moved in to Avengers Tower.  Natasha had come with him a few times and they had always stayed close, but it seemed Fury had talked the World Council into leaving the pair of spies alone.  Now that they were Avengers, fully in the public eye, it would be politically disastrous to move against them in such a way again.

This was the first time Tony was coming though.  Clint had come once or twice but Steve got the impression that without Coulson, this was not his most comfortable place.  But Tony generally worked remotely.  Both Tony and Fury seemed to prefer this.  When this trip had been mentioned during breakfast, which Tony had half slept through while downing his coffee, Tony had proclaimed he was coming as well.  Natasha and Clint had looked as bewildered as Steve felt and Bruce had simply nodded before disappearing into his lab.

Natasha was the pilot today, as usual.  Steve had no issue letting her control the plane, though he was an able pilot himself and fully qualified now.  Tony had taken one look at his training since he had woken up and scoffed in disgust.  Steve’s new training program had literally fast-tracked him through basic military upgrades of the last 70 years and he was now comfortable on any SHIELD vehicles and a few special to Tony.  

He remembered the conversation about that particular issue.  He had only been at the tower a few weeks and he hadn’t yet learned much about Tony.

-Flashback-

“Stark!  Quit changing my training program!”  Tony didn’t even give him the benefit of his glare as he just continued working on something else that was incomprehensible to the soldier.  He did, however, respond.

“Seriously?  Your schedule was written by idiots at SHIELD.”  Steve gritted his teeth at the tone that irritated him to no end.  He wasn’t sure where Tony got that tone, but it was pitched to set his teeth on edge.

“It had things I needed to learn on it!  I do NOT need to be able to pilot a damn submarine, but I would like to be able to handle a simple airplane.”  His seething didn’t appear to phase the engineer as the man tossed a tool in his tool box behind him without looking and started flicking at a 3D screen of schematics.

“You will learn a hell of a lot more piloting the damn submersible than a stupid F-16.  When will you even fly an F-16?  And the UH-60 would be far more helpful.”  Finding what he was looking for in the schematic, Tony ducked his head into his toolbox again to find something.

Steve closed his eyes and counted to 10 slowly.  Then again in Gaelic as a nod to his mother who had told him repeatedly to learn to control his temper.

“Leave.  My. Training. Schedule.  Alone!”  He was proud that his teeth were only clenched for the last word of that request.  Tony glanced at him with a thoroughly unimpressed look.  He looked at the tool he had just found before he sighed and set it down.

“JARVIS save everything and pull up Captain Tightass’s training regimen along with my improvements.”

“Modifications!”

Tony didn’t even dignify that with a glare it seemed as a network of certifications popped up in blue 3D lights.  About 30% of the map was green, signaling things Steve had learned in the last 2 years since he was thawed.  Suddenly a red web overlaid the blue and green.

“Here are the modules you are on.  65% of the radar module is repeated in this certification for submersives.  32% of this 3D maneuverability module is repeated in submersives.  Submersives also contains significant portions of these 8 certifications and vehicle classes.”  All relevant module lit up, none of which Steve had even looked at let alone started.  Tony glared at him and moment before moving on.

“UH-60 certification contains 57% of the F-16 certification lesson, 58% of the 3D maneuverability module and 85% of all of the communications modules not focused on programming.  Additionally, it contains significant portions of these 9 certifications and covers everything except user protocol for these 2 classes of vehicles.”  Tony waved at the web that was now glowing red.  

“The SHEILD training schedule you have has you completing all the certification the Avengers will require at least 50% of the time.  It is slated to consist of 46 different modules and certifications and at your current speed will take you at least 2 more years.  This reworking of the organization of the information will have you complete those plus an additional 13 in less than 18 months.”  Tony had been growling at him by the end of that speech.  Steve had been speechless though.  He had known he had a lot of work ahead of him and he was having a hard time completing it all, but being laid out so bluntly was beyond disheartening.

He also had to re-evaluate Tony’s interference.

“If that’s true then why doesn’t SHIELD use your approach?”  His weak question was met with a glare.

“Aside from them being idiots?  Their system is tailored for a normal spy.  You are a unique situation in that you have no idea what it would mean when it says ‘Bypass Administrative Access’.”  Steve winced.  He knew that looking up some of the instructions were slowing him down.  Tony must have seen his reaction though, because the engineer’s tone and face softened a bit, “You also have a photographic memory and a serum enhanced recall ability.  Your pattern recognition is excellent.  Many of these lessons have similar elements that SHIELD minions need reiterated, but you only need to hear once.”

Steve looked back at the web of red and blue.  He looked at the pitiful amount of green on it.  He had tried to speed up now that he had a team to protect, but he was frustrated.  He glanced at Tony, who was watching him from above folded arms.  Steve knew he had put the engineer on the defensive all by himself.  He couldn’t blame Tony’s attitude on that one.

“Okay.  How about you walk me through the changes to my schedule you are thinking?”  Tony shifted at the request.  It was enough that Steve saw some mild confusion actually slip into his expression before he hid it well.

-End Flashback-

Steve had discovered over the last months that people rarely want to understand Tony.  They wanted something to work and they wanted to understand what they could do with it, but the actual understanding of his thought process was pretty much exclusive to Bruce, and on less sciencey stuff, Pepper and Colonel Rhodes.

He huffed as Tony growled at his tablet.  He stood to depart the quinjet as they landed, but Tony stopped him and passed him an earbud.  He raised an eyebrow at the engineer, but Tony just kept walking.  He glanced at Natasha and Clint in question, but neither responded.  Both had adopted a blank face, just as they did each time they visited.  He hated that he could barely read his own team.  In times like this he missed the Howling Commandos desperately.

They split up as they exited the jet.  Tony presumably went to the lab, but Steve knew Clint and Tasha had meetings as he did.  He ducked into a unwatched corner a moment.

“JARVIS?”  His voice was quiet.  Whatever had Tony spooked, he didn’t want to alert anyone not already in the know.  He forced himself not to touch his ear with his hand or twitch his head to the side.

“I am here, Captain.”

“Why do I have an earbud for a visit to SHIELD?”

“Sir has requested I monitor activity during this visit.”

“Keep the volume down unless something need my attention”  

A triple beep confirmed the order.  Tradition stated triple for positive and double for negative.  True to that the whisper of the other coms dropped away completely and he continued on his way through the helicarrier.

* * *

His meeting went on the dull side of normal.  Much of it was passing along information one direction or another so that the Avengers and SHIELD could keep from tripping over each other, especially in a public setting.

He was halfway through a discussion on crowd control when he heard a triple beep.  It took some verbal dancing to excuse himself from the meeting.

“Go JARVIS.”  They had all learned to trust JARVIS and Steve rather liked the protective AI with a wry sense of humor that was clearly learned from Pepper instead of Tony.  Sound filtered in as JARVIS gave context.

“A situation with Agent Barton is escalating.  Sir and Agent Romanov are already enroute.  Location: East wing locker room.”  Clint was supposed to work with a group of snipers today on nesting and movement during a long term op in the east wing training center.

“-going to teach you to attack SHIELD.”

“Get his other arm!”

Steve turned and raced down the hall.  He was closer to Clint than either of the other two, “I’m on my way Clint.”

* * *

Clint waved at the young sniper as he left.  The kid had good instincts and asked the right questions.  They had stayed after the normal allotted time to discuss different types of cover advantages.  Clint enjoyed working with rookies when they were interested.  The group of 6 he had been with in the last 2 hours had been a good group.  Mostly rookies, one or two seasoned agents trying to branch out a bit.

A quick change before he met up with Tony for lunch and weapons discussion and they could head home.  He was very aware that some people still blamed him for Loki.  Despite Natasha’s warning, he had eventually looked at the casualty list from that day.  Eight agents dead by his bow, another 14 during the attack, including Phil.  He still couldn’t swallow that without gagging.  

He had just closed his locker when he heard steps behind him stop.  He then realized the people in the locker room had all slowed their motions.  He winced.  Not again!  

“We really going to do this?”  This was the fourth time he had been jumped on the carrier.  It was the first since he had moved to the Tower, but the taunting had never stopped.

As a single person against 7, he did pretty well.  They got his weapons away from him early, they had some learning curve apparently.  He hear Tony and Natasha confirm they were on their way.

“You shouldn’t keep coming back!”

“You betrayed us once already, we know better.”

“We’re going to teach you to attack SHIELD.”

“Get his other arm!”  Clint felt the string around his wrists catch his sniper gear and cursed.  It wasn’t made for hand to hand and it had grips they could use to their advantage.

Flipping over them, he realized his arms were truly bound behind him as Steve also confirmed he was on his way.  He’d taken out 2 of the 7 for the rest of the fight, but 3 of the remaining simply dogpiled him before manhandling him into the shower area.

“You think you’re forgiven just cuz you’re an Avenger now?”  The shower was turned on and Clint was stuffed under it, face up.  Clint had been through minor waterboarding, this was less threatening.  He let himself ragdoll as they gave him a solid blow to the solar plexus.

“Look at him!  He’s a fucking pussy!  What does Romanov actually see in him?”  Clint felt his blood boil as he was set on the soaked ground.  He tried to regain his breath and work his arms free.

“Fuck if I know.  We should fix that.”  Clint felt blood drain from his face at that statement as hand went to his outfit.  He kicked out, trying to dislodge the hands that held him under control.  Four people was enough to keep him from doing much.  He was cursing at them now.  One of them grabbed his dick in a punishing grasp through the clothing.

Clint cried out, trying not to double over in pain.  The agent leaned close to his ear.

“I hear both your partner and your handler fucked you.  Sweet honeypot mission.  Pity you couldn’t fuck him once before he died and pay him back, Slut!”  Clint jerked up, head butting the agent.

“Shut up!  You don’t deserve to say Phil’s name, let alone that filth, so you shut up about him!”  Clint’s growl didn’t seem to worry the agents, one of whom finally got his pants undone and jerked them down clumsily.  The agent he had head butted glared at him as the 2 behind him crashed him forward to lay on his stomach.  Once down, he used the leverage to try to buy himself some time.  A glove on his hips anchored him and a familiar round object settled against the back on his thighs.  It was a sniper rifle.  Clint pulled hard, feeling all the emotion he had been suppressing through the fight start to overwhelm him.

A moment later he rolled away just as the pressure on his hip disappeared.  He brought his knees up to the back of the knees of another agent as he spun.  Steve had literally lifted Agent Fastnel off him by the neck and was sending him into the tile wall with remarkable force.  He had taken a knife off the agent and had slid it towards Clint as he grabbed two other agents who had been backing away.

Clint kicked the ankle out of one of them and grabbed the knife as he rolled.  He needn’t have worried.  The last mobile agents scattered rather than face a truly incensed Captain America.  As soon as it was clear, Clint let himself sink to his knees.  Steve caught him gently.

“Easy, I got you Clint.”  Steve sliced through the string around his arms easily and helped him stay upright while he pulled up his pants.  They had only pulled them enough to get at his arse, so his modesty was safe.  It didn’t lessen the hurt to his pride much.

Both men tensed at the foot steps that entered the locker room, until JARVIS came over the coms.

“Agent Romanov has entered the locker room.  Sir is locating the identities of the attackers and delivering evidence, and a truly blistering lecture, to Director Fury about this incident.”

“Clint”  Natasha came over and helped him unwind the string from his wrists as Steve continued to support the archer.  Nat massaged his arms out as the blood flow returned to normal.  She had rescued Clint before and was aware of the importance of his arms to his livelihood.

Her evaluating look turned deadly as she read his body language.  She looked at the men still unconscious.  She spat viciously at their bodies, “они будут кричать и хотят смерти“.  Clint placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Не сейчас. Мы можем пойти домой?”  His pleading caught her attention and she nodded.

“Stark, you done?”

“Yup, head to the quinjet.  I”ll meet you there in 5. I’ll send this after take off.”  

Steve reached out to help Clint stand, but the archer shied away from him.  He took the lead after that towards the quinjet.  They were 20 feet from the jet when they were stopped by Dan Monroe.  Steve usually had a lot of respect for Agent Monroe, but he was not in the mood.

When he had entered the locker he had been listening to the fight on his coms.  The comment about Phil had his blood boiling already, but then he had entered and saw the gun about to penetrate his teammate and he saw red.  He almost killed Fastnel when he punched him across the room.  Truthfully, he wouldn’t have minded on some level, but he had his team to think of and Clint needed a teammate more than an avenging angel right then.

“Out of our way, Monroe.”  

“Sorry Sir, my orders are to not let you leave without Director Fury’s express permission.”  The agent had guts, Steve had to admit that.  Steve walked up to the agent and stood in his face.

“We do not leave a man behind.  Once Stark is here, we.  Are.  Gone.”  He sensed Natasha boarding with Clint behind him.  Monroe gaped at him, clearly intimidated, before he swallowed and stood his ground.

“I have my orders Sir.”  Steve had to admire him for that.  He glanced back when he heard Tony tell them to start up the jet.  Natasha replied affirmative and the Quinjet’s engines started up.  Steve stayed right where he was.  Monroe wasn’t getting near Tony.

The quinjet lifted a few inches off the pad and Steve heard Tony dart across the landing strip.  He shielded the engineer from Monroe’s view completely and when he heard Tony confirm he was aboard, he turned and leaped on the jet that was hovering a good 3 feet off the ground.  

Natasha obligingly tilted the quinjet to help him fall in before closing the hatch and they jetted off.  Steve knelt next to Clint as Tony sent off whatever he was intending for Fury.

“Clint, we’re heading home.”  Clint was balled on the seat behind the pilot.  Tony sat across from him with a gust.

“All the evidence gathered Birdboy.  They are so done in SHIELD.”  Clint gave Tony a pale imitation of a smile.

“Thanks Tony.”  Both Steve and Tony frowned.  Clint was the jokester of the group.  Tony definitely got involved routinely, but the push behind the pranks in the tower were inevitably Clint.  He was always bright and most of the time smiling.

“You know, it’s really hard to accept it sometimes, but even when you helped unknowingly, it still isn’t your fault.”  Tony’s statement was said with an absent minded tone, but Steve heard the thread of concern.  Clint nodded.

“Yeah, I know.”

* * *

Bruce met them in the common room after landing at the tower, but Clint told him he was fine and refused to be examined.  Bruce and Steve decided lunch was in order and they all settled in the kitchen while they made soup.  They were all quiet for quite a while before Clint spoke from his perch on top of the fridge.

“Tony?”  He refused to meet anyone’s eyes as the engineer grunted in question, “How did you handle people talking about your sex life?  I mean back when it first came out?”  

Tony snorted.

“I think I got drunk and Rhodey had to fish me out of a frat pond.”  His wry answer had Clint wincing and curling in on himself.  Tony sighed, apparently noticing, “My situation was way different than yours, Clint.”

“For one thing, my partners were the ones doing much of the talking.”  Tony leaned forward and met Clint’s eyes as the archer looked up.  He looked incredibly young at that moment, reminding Steve that he was only 10 years older than Steve himself.

“For another, I was new to college, I’d barely moved into my dorm room and Rhodey still thought I was a rich brat, more than a friend.”  Clint’s head jerked up at that.  Steve watched in confusion as Bruce similarly looked over in shock.  Natasha seemed as clueless on this topic as Steve, which made him feel a little better.  Bruce was the one who spoke next.

“Your first semester at MIT?  With another college student?”  Tony glanced at him and scrunched up his face as he thought.

“Yeah, a 3rd year at the time I think.  She was in one of my thermodynamics classes, so she wanted my help studying.”  Tony gave him a salacious grin, “Turns out she wanted to study anatomy too.”  If anything, Bruce’s frown deepened.  

“Tony, was that your first experience?”  Bruce immediately waved his hands and Steve felt himself turn red.  “No, no, that was an inappropriate question.  My point is that you were 13 years old!”  Steve understood Bruce’s and Clint’s surprise better now.

More than understood, he was disgusted.  “Wouldn’t a normal 3rd year be 20?”

Tony nodded, “Yeah, she celebrated her 21st birthday about a month after we were together.”  Tony shrugged but Steve felt like vomiting.

“I thought that was illegal now?”

Tony gave him a weirded look, “Steve I’ve had sex, a lot.  It’s not illegal.”

“It is when one of the participants is under 17 and the other is over 17!”  Bruce’s exasperated reply drew looks and all were startled to see a green tint to the man.

Tony waved his hands in front of his science Bro, “Woah, easy there green bean.  It was college.”

“That doesn’t make it right!  The law against that kind of age gap is there for a reason.  Tell me she’s still in jail for it.”

Tony frowned at Bruce.  “She never went to jail.  She’s the wife of one of the main shareholders in FourierTech.  I see her periodically at events Pepper makes me attend.”  Tony looked at them in bewilderment.  Steve felt himself grow even more angry as Tony met their eyes in confusion.  

“Guys?  It really was okay.  I mean it was mutual and all.”

Bruce may as well have been breathing fire as Clint spoke next, “How the hell did Howard Stark lose a lawsuit about this?  I mean with his power and money, he should have been able to buy the jury.”

Tony blinked at him in further confusion before looking down and shrugging, “Yeah, Howard was proud of me.”

Steve felt his breath leave him with a whoosh.  Proud.  Howard was proud his son had been a victim of statutory rape.  The man he had known, had admired had…  He shook his head as that thought could not compute.  Behind him, Bruce left the room.  With the tint to his skin, he was probably heading for the Green Room.

Beside him, Clint cleared his throat.  “Yeah, okay.  Shitty dad’s club meeting now over.  Let’s play Mario Bros.  I want to beat the crap out of Bowser.”  Steve look at Clint, who was looking at Tony.  The billionaire still looked mildly confused, but with the suggestion, he brightened up and let Clint drag him away.

That left Steve and Natasha alone in the kitchen with 5 bowls of cooling soup.  He glanced at Natasha.

“Did you know?”

She nodded as she looked at her soup, toying with the spoon.

“Anthony Stark began his sex life at age 13.  He was part of his first sex video at age 16 and by the time he graduated from college at age 18, he was considered a consummate playboy.  Although the reputation remained, the actual number of bed partners dropped off significantly when he was 22 and started producing tech for SI full time.  That number dropped to none after his visit to Afghanistan, even though the media has kept much of the talk alive.”  Her parroting a report didn’t help his mood much.

“Didn’t anyone ever stop to think how much damage that was doing to Tony?”  

Natasha shook her head at his question.  “I doubt it.  Tony had to grow up fast.  I don’t think Obidiah Stane helped much.”  Steve remembered the information they all had about Stane’s involvement in Tony enforced vacation in Afghanistan.

“He encouraged it, didn’t he?”  

Natasha shrugged, “Probably.  Not outright, certainly, but it would make sense that he implied it was better than other forms of flamboyance Tony could have been involved in.”

She hesitated a moment, “I never really thought about his age, beyond the facts of the matter.  When I was assigned to watch him, I automatically memorized his history for the mission.  I didn’t really stop to think about things like that.”  She set her spoon in her soup and pushed it away from her.  Steve gave her a questioning grunt.

“One of the things I memorized was his financial background.  His first bank account was when he was 5.  His first paycheck from SI was when he was 7 and they corresponded to either a news story about his accomplishments or an R&D development.  Looking back, it’s likely Tony was designing things for SI from that young, if only in basic concept.”  

Steve gave her a confused look so she continued.  

“Howard Stark spent 10 out of 12 months collectively each year searching for you from the time Tony was 4 until his death when Tony was 17.  Unless he was designing on his journey, there wasn’t enough time for him to be responsible for SI’s R&D breakthroughs like the news claimed him to be.  Someone else would have had to be involved.”  She looked up at Steve with a mild frown.

“Even now, except for the Avenger’s inventions, he has no patents under his own name.  I looked to try to get a handle on his knowledge base.  All the SI inventions we know Tony invented are under SI, not Tony Stark.”

Steve sighed as he looked at the bowls of soup. Over and over it was being driven home that Tony hadn’t had a childhood.

* * *

Clint glanced at his prank buddy as they bounced around the digital world.  Mario was relaxing for both of them and it was their goto game when one of them wasn’t feeling great.  Not that either was good at admitting it.  He glanced at Tony as the genius crowed at the bad guy he just trounced.

“Hey Tony?”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been around a lot right?”  

Tony snorted.  “I’m going to assume you’re continuing the convo from before and referring to my wildly varied, widely broadcasted sex life.”

“How varied was that life exactly?”  Clint playful question had a thread of seriousness to it that the cagey businessman in Tony obviously picked despite Clint’s attempt to squelch it.  They hit a save screen and Tony gestured for Clint to pick the next level they played.

“What, you want a list of dids and didn’ts?”  Clint coughed as he started chuckling.

“No thanks.  I don’t need to know that much about your sex life.”  Clint started the next level and settled next to Tony.

“Soooo?”  Clint glanced at Tony before looking back at the TV screen, “Aww come on man, what dids are you asking about?”  Tony’s whine made him chuckle.

He thought about how to phrase his question carefully before opening his mouth next.  “How about Poly?”

Tony shrugged.  “Assuming you are referring to a longer term concept than an orgy here, sure I met a few.  Never involved in them.  I didn’t used to do the long term thing, remember?”  

Clint snorted.  They dropped into a new dungeon screen and Tony glanced at him as the screen changed over.

“You know I met every sex type under the sun and with a few exception I enjoyed them.  I’m free love.  You love or sex up whoever you want Birdboy.  As long as it’s mutually consensual, I’m behind it all the way.”  

They took off across the dungeon.  A few minutes were spent dodging and jumping fireballs before Clint spoke again.

“Phil was the first person to really got it.  Poly, that is.”  Tony hummed as he fell off a brick and had to hop quickly to keep from lava.  “Nat gets it too.”

“So you and SpiderBite?  I totally called that!”  Clint shook his head.

“Not sex.”  Tony glanced at him in curiosity.  That glanced cost him a life and Clint chuckled as he swore at the screen a moment.  “Nat is uninterested and I’m more of a romantic than a sex guy.”

Tony caught up to him again and leaped ahead to pound the stuffing out of the last obstacle to get out of the dungeon.  “So you and Itsy Bitsy get romantic together and you and Agent did both?”

“Yeah.  Phil was-  He was- Stable, I guess.”  Clint watched as the screen changed over again.  “I lo- I miss him.”  

Tony hummed as they started the next screen, “So the outburst on the helicarrier when they mentioned Agent was for that.  Makes sense.”  Tony focused on the screen a moment before a memory teased him, “Wait a minute, he was dating a cellist in Portland I thought?”  

Clint nodded.  “She’s been great since his death.”  

Tony relaxed, “That’s good.  She still in Portland?  You need help getting there?”  

Clint laughed and shook his head.  “FYI, most of the info on her you have is wrong.  She’s never lived in Portland and she doesn’t play the cello.  It was a cover story for the two of us because she isn’t in the spy world.”  

Tony stared at him in shock for a moment before he collected himself.  “Well, I feel silly.  That explains why when I suggested the same thing to Agent, he just shooed me on.”  

Clint looked at him a long minutes before he started laughing.  Tony paused the game because his partner was almost rolling off the couch with laughter.  Tony grinned as the archer seemed to finally let go of some of the crap from earlier.

“Ha, I-I can just imagine hi-him doing that too.  Just a shoo shoo motion.”  Tony watched as Clint’s eyes got pretty glassy and his chuckles slowed.  “Phil was like that.  Very sturdy, but he had this patient sense of humor.  I think that’s what I miss most.  We could go hours on a snipe mission without needing to talk and then out of the blue he’d just have this one line that was light-hearted and playful and suddenly everything was just fun.”

Clint met Tony’s gaze.  He could see the engineer’s sadness and grief from the loss that was still mildly fresh for all of them.

“He liked you, you know.”  Clint’s words startled Tony.  “He did.  He mentioned it once how much he wished he had had more time as your handler.”

Tony was silent for a while before he gave Clint a quiet “Thanks”.

By the time Steve and Natasha walked in with the soup they had abandoned in the kitchen, they were back in a new dungeon.  And Clint knew Tony would have his back if he was ever ready to talk about being poly again.  And Tony knew Clint would have his back if Fury ever made good on his threat to take Tony off the Avengers roster.

That’s what teammates do.

**Author's Note:**

> So Several Notes for this one:  
> Note 1: Translations:  
> они будут кричать и хотят смерти- (they will scream for death)  
> Не сейчас. Мы можем пойти домой? - Not now. Can we just go home?
> 
> Note 2: Rape  
> Even very well trained individuals can and are raped. They can be over powered like here or outmaneuvered. Rape is a violent attack and should always be treated as such. To not do so perpetuates the illusion of the rapists' that they have power. It also encourages victim blaming. Rape is about power, not sex. Sex has consent built into it. Anyone who is confused about consent should watch this [ video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbei5JGiT8). 
> 
> Note 3: Updating Flames  
> Umm... so I've been writing long enough to have been exposed to a few flames in reviews or comments. I tend to ignore them. But I wanted to put this out there, because this actually hurt.
> 
> I do not update when I'm done writing a story. I mull on it and massage it for a while. I also do not write my story in order sometimes. This is part of why I do not keep to a schedule when I update. I write what I want to read and each time I read it I modify it so its yummier. When I don't feel it needs more yum, I post so others can enjoy it. So I can have several chapter written for a while before I post them while I chew on them. Please do not get angry with me for my posting schedule. It doesn't actually change my posting schedule nor is it a useful comment on my writing.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story and that these notes don't sour it. ~Fawn


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